QUOTE : Once settled into the Egyptian parlor, that fashionable horror so beloved by her mother, there was nothing to do but wait. Armored in gold brocade, she occupied herself by writing a few notes at the black-lacquer desk footed with Sphinx heads. To Sophy and Millicent, to give them the belated news of Kitty’s puzzle box. To Lord and Lady Dudley. To Kitty and her Daniel. Even to the Booths, a thanks for their hospitality. All the members of the ragtag family that had collected: an eddy of people, swirled together by mysterious currents, before the tides of time and distance broke them apart again.